Ebay at it again!

Its nothing at all to do with people ripping others off for postage. Hell ebay have been riupping us off for years!

Its just another way for ebay to make money!!. They force you to use paypal(which they own)and have increased the final fee massively. They will tell you to put the p&p on the sale price as they will get more money off you. I think it is about time some talented web developer created an alternative as i personally am fed up of ebay and their one sided policy.

I had a twit purchase something off me last week, received it, made out it was second hand (impossible) and left me bad feedback as i wouldnt give him a discount. I couldnt leave him negative feedback as sellers cant leave neg feedback anymore.

It caught me out a few days ago as they have just chanegd their final fees to virtually 10% I sold a computer for £412 and the final fee was £36.50!

£36.50!!!!!!!!!! How in any way shape or form is that fair?

I am in the process of moving away from ebay as they make me mad.

Matt

It's a bit of difficult one ebay really.

On the one hand, we seemingly don't like the often criticised fees involved in selling, and think that ebay are having our trousers down.

On the other, we want access to a marketplace where millions of people can see our items for sale, and buy them.

Whilst ever we value the latter more than the fees, then ebay will stay in business.

Also, you have to rememember that an item sold eleswhere would probably realise a much lower price, so even after fees, you're probably still much better off.

I tend to sell things like camera gear/watches/bicycle kit on specialist forums like this one though, which is a much cheaper way of doing it!

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

I tried and tried to get the negative removed, in the end Ebay removed the comments but would not do the same with the negative itself.

They even agreed it was unfair but was their policy not to do so.

Quaoted that with no luck .. as I said, total joke.

As for the fees, I have no problem with those as they have to make a profit and obviously it cost a packet to set up and run at a loss for years .. the feedback side of it is what I am questioning.

eBay make money by having lots of satisfied sellers and buyers. What is good for eBay is basically good for us as well.

10% commision is actually less than that of a typical real auction house, and you don't get so many viewers with one of them.

Move away from eBay? Where to?

Yes the fees are higher than necessary, and yes some of the conditions are too restrictive, and yes we should have an independent regulator called OfBay!, but still eBay is very good for me, both as a seller and a buyer. There is no better service of its type.

I feel that a lot of the complainers of eBay are not really thinking about the bigger picture.

Another ebay shambles.Ebay have turned something which used to be great into something not so.
I think on the postage side of things the seller should be able to charge whatever they want as they are only hurting themselves if they charge to much.

Any potential buyers would decide how badly they wanted the item.

I'm sorry to hear about your trouble, Mike, and I might indeed feel differently if I experienced the same thing.

Meanwhile I'm optimistic that they way I deal with buyers will save me from negative feedback. I'm prepared to be a bit out of pocket by refunding a buyer when it isn't completely justified, for example.

You cant compare ebay to an auction house. Its a different base. If i were going to an auction house i would get paid up immediately. Ebay are also holding peoples money for upto 21 days incase of fraud.

The facts are ebay charge massive fees, force you to use paypal which they then hold your money gaining all the interest and then the majority of the time dont pay up in a paypal dispute anyway.

I hate ebay, yes ive earned alot over the years using it but i am going to try and move away from internet based selling. I am going to get premises i think, advertise in magazines and locally and then sell from my own website.

Matt

There are alternatives to eBay, but they have too much market power for anyone to really compete. I've had good sucess selling through Amazon. You have to name your price in advance but they do tell you exactly what you will get when it has sold.

P&P is not included in the Final Value fee, so eBay get less money from inflated P&P charges, and honest sellers are competed against unfairly as they pay higher fees.

I think thats where we differ about Ebay, I am not prepared to be held to ransom by someone demanding a 20% refund when the auction was detailed and clear with plenty of hi-res pics.

In my experience, buyers usually make a payment within 24 hours, with the money normally immediately available in my PayPal account - to either spend immediately, or deposit to my bank account which takes a few days.

I've not yet been invloved with anything dodgy enough for a payment to be held by PayPal in case of fraud.

Ebay is so geared towards the buyer now and they know that. They will try it on to the point of threatening. How hard could it be for a really talented web developer to code an auction site and offer free listings and £1 final fee of sales over £25

It wouldnt take long for people to use that site and then after a year or so up the final fee to £5 for items over £25.

Wouldnt take you long to make millions im sure.

Neither have I, ebay are doing it to all new ebayers on certain products (electrical goods mostly)

Its just another way to maximise income.

You dont need to be involved with anything dodgy for a payment to be held for 21 days. If you've had buyers giving you a bit of unreasonable feedback, and you have an average detailed seller rating lower than 4.5 (out of 5) Then for any item Ebay class as high risk (anything in my experience) they will hold your payment for 21 working days unless you recieve positive feedback from the seller within that time.

VERY ANNOYING. Took me a while to get my average ok again thanks to idiots that do not read the page listing properly. It just takes one person giving you 1 out of 5 in each of the four areas to hit your average hard. Sellers are powerless.

I still continue to use Ebay...but do wish a better alternative existed.